Brandenburg Concerto 6
and the viola

Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto 6 is the less known andperformed of the six Brandenburg Concertos and not because is not a masterwork, but because of the instruments used.

Of course is one of my favourite, together with the Brandenburg Concerto 3 because violas play the most important part.

Instruments

Because of the presence of the two gambas, it’s not that easy to fit this concerto in a performance given by a usual string orchestra. Until the second half of the last century it was common to replace the two gambas with cellos but the concerto looses that special sonority.

The two violas are the two soloists but not quite so, because the cello often joins them, forming a trio, especially in the third movement.

Movements

At the opening of this concerto the two violas start playing the same brisk rhythmic theme one immediately after the other (canon), accompanied by gambas, cello and continuo all playing repeated notes and giving a sense of pressing pace. This is relaxed a bit later in a calmer, more melodic dialogue that starts between all the instruments. Click on one of the pictures to see and listen to a couple of versions of the concerto.

The whole first movement is played alternating these two musical "moods" and fragments of them, with the two violas most often playing in canon and the other instruments joining them in turn or accompanying, going through many keys in a never-ending way that is always new. I like this of Bach’s music, it always seems to get to an end and then starts with a new direction, it could go on forever, I’d never get bored. Bach’s mastery is in combining this material to make it fresh and lively all the time.

The second movement of Brandenburg Concerto 6 is like a duo, with reduced forces like in most other concertos, so without the gambas. The second viola starts at the opening and then the two violas pass the theme each other, with the cello and continuo accompanying and sometimes playing part of the theme. I love this movement, to me it sounds like dreaming, with these parts behaving, as Bach used to remind his pupils about composing, "like persons who conversed together as if in a select company".

The ending leaves a feeling of suspension that leads to the third movement which is, again, a very energetic one. Initially the two violas play together, in a lively dancing rhythm, TA-RA-TA, TA-RA-TA etc. Then the writing becomes faster, with the two violas chasing each other, giving and taking fragments of scales and parts of the initial theme, soon joined by the cello taking the same musical ideas in this quite virtuosic run. Then after the repetition of the initial phrase, there is a new virtuosic episode between the two violas accompanied only by cello and bass (no gambas) followed by the cello showing off again its fast passage played earlier while the violas have a more melodic, sweet dialogue.

Eventually the whole orchestra plays a ritornello, a complete repetition of the first 45 bars, thus completing the A-B-A structure of this beautifully joyful movement.

The Brandenburg Concerto 6 is the perfect conclusion to a set of concertos that have justly become Bach's most popular compositions thanks to the variety of musical imagination shown by Bach in the choice of instruments and musical ideas as well.

The Concerto samples you've heard are from only one of the many existing editions. Click on the link to see a large choice of sheet music.

Download the free MIDI file

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